Library Blogs

On April 2nd, 2025, ten delegates from the University of Michigan's Society of Women Engineers (SWE) chapter traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in SWE’s annual Congressional Outreach Day. Through representing the voices of countless women and marginalized individuals who are often excluded from governmental conversations, U-M SWE members endorsed a targeted list of federal legislative priorities and funding requests to ensure the success of marginalized groups working in STEM.

Krystel Anderson, a Seed Library Engagement Fellow, illustrates her experience in community-facing work, which included providing seeds to the community and accessible knowledge of plants and gardens.

A DIY NAS server

Read a bit about curator Jamie Vander Broek's journey toward developing the exhibit Behind the Curve: Rainbows and the Science and Culture of Color, on view through 4 September in the Hatcher Gallery Exhibit Room!

Many employees in the University Library at the University of Michigan are enthusiastic about using data to inform their work, and have used assessment methods to gather and analyze data. The library has an assessment strategy that is designed to guide this type of distributed assessment activity, so that people feel supported and successful in gathering, analyzing, and making sense of data. One critical piece of the assessment strategy is the Assessment Special Interest Group (SIG). The Assessment SIG provides the library’s assessment practitioners with regular opportunities to gather -- in person and online -- to share assessment projects in all phases, and to get peer support and feedback on assessment work. This blog piece provides more information about the role of the Assessment SIG in supporting solid, connected assessment in the library.

What are the main characteristics of search queries submitted from the “What can we help you find” search in the lib.umich.edu homepage, and how relevant are results in our U-M Library Search “Everything” results? Learn how our small team gathered, categorized, and analyzed queries, and their results to reveal trends and insights from search query behaviors that will help us improve people’s experience finding promising materials in the Library.

These are simple inflation needle holders that can be mounted to a wall.

An upcycled sweatshirt using an old sweater and scrap fabric.

Hera is author Jennifer Saint's retelling of the story of an often-vilified figure from Greek mythology: Hera, wife of Zeus and queen of the gods on Mount Olympus. Hera is usually depicted in mythology as jealous and vengeful, especially toward Zeus' many lovers and their offspring. We see this side of her in Saint's novel, but we also see the reasons why Hera acts as she does. In the novel, she comes across as, if not a sympathetic character, certainly a complex, multi-layered one, and we also see a more admirable side to her.

Students hung out with furry friends, made puppy-themed buttons, and picked up cool swag, like posters, sticky notes, and candy!